Jamie Carragher reveals stance on Liverpool’s Champions League qualification after loss to Man City

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher says he does not expect the club to qualify for next season’s Champions League, arguing that the Reds would need “a huge upturn in form” to finish in the European places.

Arne Slot’s side fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City on Sunday despite going ahead thanks to a stunning Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick, with the hosts conceding a 90th-minute winner for the fourth time in league matches this season - the joint-most ever by a team in a single Premier League campaign.

And the result leaves Liverpool in sixth place, four points behind Chelsea in fifth and five points behind Manchester United in fourth, though fifth place in the Premier League will likely qualify for the 2026/27 Champions League thanks to Uefa co-efficient, as happened last season.

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However, Carragher doesn’t believe his old side are good enough to finish in the top five based on current form, with the Reds having now won just two of their last 10 matches in the Premier League.

“When you look at the league for Liverpool, it looks like a long way to try and get Champions League positions,” said Carragher on Sky Sports after full-time.

“There’s a gap now. You look at them, still in two cup competitions that they’ll have to do well in to almost save the season. It looks a long way back.

“You look at Liverpool’s bench, they’ve got a problem at right-back, and when you look at Liverpool’s season a lot of it is just mistakes that you cannot believe. Players of that calibre, van Dijk against Bournemouth, Alisson here today.

“If you said to me, ‘do you think Liverpool will get top five?’ I’d say no. Right now I don’t, no. They’d have to have a huge upturn in form. And the ones above them [Chelsea and Man Utd] are in great form,” added Carragher.

The champions sit sixth with 39 points after 25 games, with Slot taking his side north to face Sunderland in midweek bin their next match efore the weekend’s FA Cup tie against Bournemouth on 14 February.